Dance/Movement Therapy and emotional well-being for adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Silvia Barnet-Lopez*, Susana Pérez-Testor, Josep Cabedo-Sanromà, Guillermo R. Oviedo, Myriam Guerra-Balic

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Indexed journal article Articlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The connection between mind and body is activated through Dance/Movement Therapy (D/MT). This connection promotes the integration of emotional, cognitive and physical dimensions of a person. This study focused on emotional well-being, understood as a dimension within the construct of quality of life. The improvement of emotional well-being was examined in adults with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) who participated in an intervention program of 26 sessions in D/MT. The intervention group comprised 22 adults with ID (n = 22; 47.27 ± 11.67 years) (12 male). The control group were 20 adults with ID (n = 20; 48.15 ± 12.46 years) (12 male). The Koppitz human figure drawing test was applied to evaluate the emotional indicators before and after the program.The results indicated statistically significant improvements in the emotional well-being in the intervention group after the D/MT program (p = 0.007) in comparison to the control group (p = 0.560). D/MT can be an appropriate approach when working with adults with ID to provide them with support, and to increase quality of life specifically emotional well-being.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10-16
Number of pages7
JournalArts in Psychotherapy
Volume51
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2016

Keywords

  • Dance/Movement therapy
  • Emotional well-being
  • Intellectual disability
  • Quality of life

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